The Niagara Grape & Wine Festival Meridian Grande Parade took place today in St. Catharines witnessed by a large crowd that lined the major streets of downtown.
The festival celebrates the contribution of the wine industry and its economic impact.
Mosaic Edition captured some of the activities on the parade route.
The town crier was at the forefront of the parade to announce the arrival of the grand parade.
Walter Sendzik, the Mayor of St Catharines was in the parade in shorts with a bottled water to cool off the heat.
The Niagara Grape & Wine Festival Meridian Grande Parade is the last major activity to round off all the summer activities.
The Niagara Folk Arts featured in the parade to demonstrate the diversity of the area. The participants represented the cultural diversity of Niagara region.
Advocates for better treatment of migrant workers who work in the grape fields of Ontario were on the parade route.
Niagara, like many other agricultural regions of Canada rely on migrant workers to make the success achieved in the various agro businesses.
The group chanted “If you drink wine today, thank the migrant workers.” The advocates would like better conditions for the migrant workers in the Niagara region.
The migrant workers are mainly from the Caribbean and Mexico.
Post secondary institutions in Niagara have developed various programs to assist the wine industry.
Niagara College Canada has a wine program to train and develop various skills needed by the wine industry.
Brock University has conducted various researches to help the grape and wine industry.
The Canadian military was on the route. Many reserves are enlisted in the region and ready to serve the country. The parade featured a group of Canada’s war heroes.
The Community Care collected donations on the parade route. The Community Care has been there for community members in time of need.
[…] Our local media has been hit hard by large corporations that don’t care about our small towns, and by local government that doesn’t care about freedom of the press. We’ve gotten to know our neighbours a bit better through Tiffany Mayer’s beautiful “The Hands That Feed Us” migrant farm worker series and confronted the region’s exploitation of these workers by disrupting the Grape & Wine Festival Grande Parade. […]